CONGRATULATION !!
A.D.2111
ALL BASES OF CATS WERE
DESTROYED.
IT SEEMS TO BE PEACEFUL.
BUT IT IS INCORRECT.
CATS IS STILL ALIVE.
ZIG-01 MUST FIGHT
AGAINST CATS AGAIN.
AND DOWN WITH THEM
COMPLETELY! GOOD LUCK.

CONGRATULATION!!
A.D.2111
ALL LOWER SURFACES OF
THE CATS WERE DESTROYED !!
IT SEEMS TO BE CALM.
BUT IT IS FALSE.
CATS IS STILL ALIVE.
ZIG-01 MUST AGAINST CATS AGAIN FIGHTS.
AND DOWN WITH YOU COMPLETE!
GOOD LUCK.

And the translators of an obscure chapter from the Sega version of the late '80s arcade game ZeroWing were turning in their graves. Why had this travesty of translation come back to haunt them? "Give us a break!" they cried, beseeching meme-hungry Net addicts to stop broadcasting ZeroWing's clumsy Japanglish all over town. But it was too late.

Captain: What happen?
Mechanic: Someone set up us the bomb
Operator: We get signal
Captain: What!
Operator: Main screen turn on.

Captain: It's you!!
Cats: How are you gentlemen!!
Cats: All your base are belong to us

Just a little careless dialogue scripting and a thousand Web sites bloomed, broadcasting this shoddy video game translation to the masses. As pranksters rushed to plaster that curiously catchy ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US on every possible surface (a banner behind Colin Powell and Norman Schwartzkopf, T-shirts,Vanna White's Wheel of Fortune puzzle, across a dozen Shriners' red caps), the rest of us asked ourselves "but what's the point?"

Maybe the point is that there is no point. But if there is, do not expect to find it on ZeroWing. Freed from the dusty corners of video game arcana ALL YOUR BASE BELONG TO US offers only this prognosis:

Hey, I'm new here and just happened to stumble upon the "All your base" website, and almost died laughing. Then I couldn't believe that it was from a real video game until I saw it with my own eyes. I was just wondering how this all got started, if someone doesn't mind sharing. Thanks!